Last season began a new chapter in the Van-Far softball program.

Shaylen Bailey took over as a head coach in a program that had three straight losing seasons going in but eventually only won three games. Most of the varsity Lady Indians this season are back and determined for a much better showing.

Bailey said about three of the varsity roster of 13-14 are new, but everybody else played on the squad a year ago. Van-Far has about 25 total out for softball this season – nine upperclassmen and 11 freshmen – and many of those girls are back in spots that make them comfortable.

“We have Dalana (Gay) returning on the pitcher’s mound, which will help us a lot,” Bailey said. “Reeve (Woodall) is going back to first (base), which is her home place to be. Our three sophomores that started for us last year are coming back stronger than last year in every aspect of the game.”

Gay didn’t get a chance to play last year due to injury so she will be able to be the team’s No. 1 pitcher, and the all-conference Woodall can play first base more frequently this year after having to increase her pitching duties last year due to Gay’s injury. Kenya Jones, Mylee Keller and Elliott Utterback each expect to have big roles following their freshmen years.

Keller expects to play at shortstop, and senior Kayla Heaton will be moved to the outfield to take advantage of her “quick feet,” Bailey said. Jones has shown promise going into her season as the team’s catcher, and Utterback has a big bat along with being a quicker third baseman.

Bailey said Woodall will still serve as a backup pitcher, but the staff also has a promising freshman Ashlynn Grammer.

“We have a really strong freshman pitcher in Ashlynn Grammer,” Bailey said. “Grammer is the strongest freshman we have so far.”

Trinity Skwirtz and Makayla McCurdy are expected to fill the other outfield spots and will have bigger roles than last season, Bailey said, along with new second baseman Mariah Maggard.

“Our fielding this year will be a lot stronger than it was last year just because of the work we put in this summer,” Bailey said. “Our girls are stronger and faster than they were last year.”

Van-Far brings back several girls with batting averages of over .300, including Woodall’s of .417. Bailey said Kaelyn Hutcheson is another big senior bat for the Lady Indians that had a solid .342 on-base percentage.

Still, Bailey said she would like to see some improvement out of the team’s hitting. So far, she said it has looked better and is looking forward to how it performs during the season.

“It’s mostly focusing on technique and making sure everything is working the way it’s supposed to with our hitting,” Bailey said.

If the Lady Indians bring these to the field in about every game, Bailey sees them winning more games and making more noise in tournaments.

“I see us growing a lot with our hitting as the season goes on because you can see live pitching and all that stuff,” Bailey said. “Just getting solid at-bats and solid baserunning is a huge goal for this year and making sure we are aggressive when we are running the bases.”